Alchemists were persons attempting to make other metals into gold. They were not successful. Any reported successes either involved trickery or the production of 'base' metals other than gold.
Today we can make gold, but synthetic gold is very expensive.
Transmutations often are brought about using particle accelerators. Particles are created using some source. The charged particle is then accelerated using a combination of electrical and/or magnetic fields. In a linear accelerator [local], the charged particles drift through a series of charged tubes separated by gaps. Every time the particle emerges bweteen gaps, it is accelerated by the potential difference between adjacent segments. In a circular accelerator [local], magnetic fields keep the particles moving in circular paths.
Cyclotrons are examples of circular accelerators. These find a variety of uses. In today's world of medicine, especially with the important of PET scanning, medical centers have cyclotrons to produce shortlived positron-emitting isotopes (Carbon-11, t0.5 = 20 min; Nitrogen-13, t0.5 = 10 min; Oxygen-15, t0.5 = 2 min; Fluorine-18, t0.5 =110 min). Sometimes particle beams from cyclotrons are used directly for therapy.
The U.S. Department of energy has a systematic program of isotope production.
An additional notation is frequently used when working with particle reactions. In this notation the equation for the reaction of cosmic neutrons with atmospheric nitrogen:
The notation is: d is a deuterium nucleus; p is a proton; n is a neutron; β is a negatron or positron; γ is a gamma ray; and α is an alpha particle (or helium nucleus).
Resources for Teaching from CERN.
